Media doing this one an injustice. This is no where close to breaking ground, so showing highly conceptual renderings and using text like "coming soon" will basically set people up for grand disappointment.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/07/25/dia-developers-discuss-project-to-build-downtown-jacksonvilles-tallest-skyscraper/
Agreed. There are a lot of potential issues with the media circulating renderings for a public project that hasn’t even been RFP’d.
1. There does not have to be any kind of financial arrangement in place with the property owner (COJ) for a company like this to make a public pitch for a project.
2. It is cheap and easy to recycle images of existing or previously designed buildings and then use them produce low quality renderings like the ones currently used.
3. It is easy to get proposals from firms like Kimley Horn and KBJ and say that you are using them for engineering and architecture, but not actually release them to do the actual work.
4. Not saying this company is pursuing this project for this reason...but it is possible for a developer to publicly go after a project like this to elevate the name recognition and prestige of the company. Likely very few of us had heard of Cross Regions, but now they are immediately more well known in Jax. This could likely be used to help gain traction on other deals or appear more legitimate to lenders. Their portfolio appears to have nothing resembling a project like this.
https://crossregions.com/properties/5. Again, not saying this company is doing this....but developers write off losses for failed or abandoned projects all the time. It would be very easy to pursue publicly owned land with no deposit/escrow payment, spend a few bucks on legal fees and low level renderings, but then substantially overinflate the internal costs to pursue a project you know will never get off the ground. I know a savvy real estate developer that owns a CPA firm (not in Jax) and I think his real estate development business is just used to write off taxes from his CPA business.
6. With the amount of money that the DIA is throwing around, it's also easy and appealing for developers to put together a rudimentary design package and try to get the public behind a project to see if the DIA will over subsidize your project, like they do with others.
TLDR: It’s very cheap, easy, and beneficial for developers to publicly shop renderings for public land they don’t even have under contract. The DIA should require some money to be put in escrow (or pay a substantial review fee) so that public time and money isn't wasted on an American Lions like project again.
